Movable barriers, including garage doors, raise entrapment and entanglement concerns. In particular, open spaces in and around the door and close to the moving parts of the door may allow an object to enter this open space and be entangled or entrapped by the moving parts of the door. In the past, objects within the garage including tool handles, clothing, and body parts, such as hands or fingers have been entrapped or entangled by the door. Such entanglement is a safety concern to its users and may interfere with operation of the door. To provide safer door systems, attempts have been made to prevent such entrapment.
In endeavoring to prevent entanglement or entrapment, focus has been placed on the gaps between door sections, guide rollers, and guide tracks. For example, one design available in the art provides a shield that guards the gap between the door sections to prevent entrapment of objects into the gap that forms at the sections as the door moves between the elevated open position and the lowered closed position. The shield, in this case, is configured as an outer and inner shield to prevent insertion from either side of the door. The shield is constructed of a resilient sheet material. The outer portion of the shield is formed into an L-shaped cross-section along its length with a foot portion being mounted to the upper edge of the lower door section, such that the leg portion of the L-shape extends upwardly across the gap between lower and upper door sections. A water diversion channel is formed into the foot to divert water to the ends of the door and prevent water from dripping from the door as it is raised to the open position. A pair of double faced tapes are used to secure the shield apparatus to the top edge of the lower door section. The inner shield is configured as a strip of resilient material that is mounted to the lower edge of the interface of the upper door section so that it extends downwardly across the gap between the door sections. The resiliency of the inner shield allows the inner shield to slidingly cooperate with the interface of the upper edge of the lower door section as the sectional door closes. While this device offers protection along the sectional interfacing edges of the door, it does not provide protection in the guide roller and guide track areas.
One existing roller shield design is used in connection with a sectional door. The sectional door includes a plurality of door sections hinged together in edge-to-edge relationship. Support rollers are attached to each door section and confined within a pair of support tracks located on either lateral side of the door. To prevent entrapment between the roller and the track, a circular or rectangular roller shield is mounted on the axle of each support roller outside the track. The shield is placed proximate to the track to prevent fingers from entering the track near the support rollers. In addition to the roller shields, protective shield wings are provided to enclose the support track and prevent objects from interfering with the roller as well as to provide transport guidance within the support track where the sections meet. The outer edge of the shield is blunted or protected to prevent harm during operation. Similarly, the edge of the support track includes a folded single hem used to prevent fingers from being cut as they are brushed aside by the roller shield.
To shield the area between the track and the jamb, one approach employs a track shield inserted between the track and the jamb and held in place by fasteners. Since, as is common in the art, the space between the track and the jamb varies with the height of the track, the shield must be custom fit to the particular door in order to fill the space between the track and the jamb. In this instance, the track shield has a somewhat triangular shape that narrows as it extends downwardly toward the bottom of the track. Disadvantageously, this shield design requires production and stocking of a separate custom shield for each door of varying thickness and differing track and roller designs.
In another design, track shields are used to cover the gap between the jamb and the track. Track shields have a reverse angle, such that, an inner leg lies flat against the jamb with an outer leg extending rearward from the inner leg and at a right angle. This leg extends parallel to the track between the jamb and track. While the rearwardly extending leg projects from the jamb and has tabs mounting the track, there still may be an appreciable gap between the track and the shield. Moreover, since it is a flat structure, it may have less resistance to forces that would separate the shield from the track in some areas. Since the track shields carry the weight of the tracks and door, they must be constructed of solid metal. Since they must mount the tracks, the shields are installed before hanging the door and thus, retrofitting track shields to existing doors is not a viable option with this design. Moreover, like the previously described shield, due to its construction, individual shields would have to be designed for doors of varying thickness and differing track and roller designs. Therefore, these designs do not provide a shield which adapts to all door system configurations.